Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Laying Low In Veracruz

We are hunkered down for the day. We were pretty much up at 4:00 AM when even with the slide in the rocking and rolling and wind gusts made sleep impossible. As soon as it got light I went out and found two cement filled buckets used to tie down tarps, brought them over and re-adjusted the Starchoice dish. I then used the buckets to hold it in place, one jammed against each side of it. It worked until just a few minutes ago (2:00 PM) when the buckets fell over and the dish swung away. I looked out and a family that had come for a swim was getting into their car right beside the dish so I suspect one of the kids had something to do with it. No problem, it took only a few minutes to line everything up again.

We thought of heading into town but the best place to walk is along the waterfront and the wind would make that difficult. So, it is a TV day and Norma is busy cutting up veggies for "something".

Yesterday we asked Jose, who works here, if there was a nice restaurant in the nearby tiny pueblo of  Anton Lizardo. He told us of the one he likes, La Perlita. I had a hankering for Gulf shrimp so we drove down there. It is a very rustic beachfront place and we were the only customers. I ordered the camerones mojo de ajo and Norma the quiche de camerones y jaibas (shrimp and crab quiche). Mine was a bit disappointing.  The shrimp were few, small, unpeeled and the meat stuck to the shell. A lot of messy work for not much reward. I should have taken the owner's advice and ordered the coconut shrimp but it is generally not one of my favorite dishes. Thankfully there was lots of sliced, cooked garlic to mix up with the large scoop of rice that accompanied it. The camerones were 90 pesos ($7.50). Norma's 110 peso ($9) quiche on the other hand was delicious! Large and perfectly prepared. She could only eat half of it so I came to her rescue. All in all an enjoyable dinner added to by a chat with the English speaking owner or manager. We drove home in the dark, something we try to avoid but it was not far and we followed a bus which acted as a "Tope Detector" for us.

The wind is still blowing but nowhere near as bad. We have the slide out again. The forecast has been calling for a 50% chance of  rain tonight but there is not a cloud in the sky. I just clicked back on Weather Underground and they have changed the forecast to a 10% chance with overnight winds from 5 to 30 KMH. We will decide later if we are bringing the slide in overnight.

6 comments:

  1. We have learned to ask for "camarones pelados" and the shrimp magically appear peeled and ready to eat! :-)

    Nothing worse than having to peel your own order of shrimp!

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    1. Thank you. Good tip. Nothing worse than hands dripping with garlic sauce when you are wearing something other than t-shirt and shorts, trying to control it with those tiny non-absorbent paper serviettes.

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    2. Too funny! Yep, very accurate picture you painted there!

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  2. Hmmm... I think you always get 50% of what Norma orders which is why you usually try something different. You always get the best of both worlds in the end. Hope the wind dies down for you.

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  3. That is pretty much true Contessa. It is seldom that Norma gets more than half way through an order. The odd time when she orders meat (which I do not eat) she is supplied wit leftovers for at least one more meal.

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    1. I have to amend that to say in Canada and Mexico she seldom gets half way through. In the USA, with their massive portions, she never gets near half way through! She always says it is a waste of money for her to go out for dinner in the States.

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